Pinball machines have graphic displays that are connected to machine processors to display scores, words, or other images before, during and after actual game play.
Existing displays on pinball machine are small and difficult to read, especially during game play. A player may become distracted trying to split his vision between game play on the playfield of the machine and the display on the vertical backbox of the machine. This may be disruptive to game play since the display may contain information important to the individual game, such as bonuses that may be available.
Previous solutions to increasing the visibility of pinball machine graphic displays included creating a new pinball machine with a display within the playfield (U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,697), a new pinball machine with a marquee at the top of two or more pinball machines (U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,715), or projecting video images onto a reflectable panel inserted into the playfield (U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,861).
None of these solutions could be easily retrofitted into existing pinball machines. Many pinball machines are becoming antiques and quite valuable. In addition, none of these previous solutions allowed for upgraded graphic displays to be easily removed for routine servicing.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus for retrofitting existing pinball machines with readable displays that can be easily removed and replaced.